The summit will use examples of on-the-ground work, policy and practical support for sustainable housing development in rural areas across the globe to showcase good practice, promote discussion of the issues, and provide constructive recommendations for taking action.

Sponsored by Ecology Building Society, the summit is the brainchild of Rural Housing Scotland, who are working in partnership with UN-Habitat and collaborating with Action with Communities in Rural England, the Northern Ireland housing executive, Irish Rural Link and rural housing enablers in Wales to provide a platform to discuss the commonalities and individual approaches when it comes to tackling the housing challenges faced by rural communities. 

Kirsten Gow, communication and membership officer for Rural Housing Scotland, said: As we can’t run our highly acclaimed physical conference in 2021, we decided to see this as a chance to widen the opportunity for people across the sector to share knowledge and experience about tackling the rural housing crisis, regardless of location. 

“We’re working with partners to develop a range of sessions, from presentations on land and affordable housing and workshops on project planning, to ‘Ask an Architect’ sessions and housing policy panel discussions.  We are excited to be bringing together a diverse range of perspectives from across the sector for the summit and look forward to learning from each other to find new ways of addressing this pivotal issue.”

Jon Lee, community and business manager at Ecology Building Society, explained why the organisation is supporting the Summit. He said: “We’re excited to be working with Rural Housing Scotland to support their expanded Summit at this crucial time for the rural housing sector across the UK. Ecology specialises in supporting projects which respect the environment and enable sustainable communities to flourish. We look forward to sharing our experience of supporting people-powered housing and other community-owned assets, as well as learning from others.”

The Summit will run entirely online from 21st-27th February 2021 and will be free to attend with a range of short, individually bookable sessions each day to allow participants to create their own, tailored conference schedule. 

For more information visit the website.